Waiting forever and a day
by donargh
Summary: What was in the unknown sections of the Quell arena? What happends if the victors ventured off into one of the unknown areas of the arena? An alternate view of catching fire that leads to ramifications of the whole story.
1. Chapter 1: The fight and the flight

**Waiting for forever and a day**

Update (7th of September 2012): Hi there! Reviews have highlighted that my grammar needs working on. So I thought I would attempt to fix it many thanks for reading!

Authors note: So, this is my first attempt at writing hunger games fan fiction. I am seriously obsessed by this book. While reading it for the gajillionth time, I had a "what if" moment and thought it was good enough for a story. Sorry if the ideas already been written! I swear I haven't seen anything similar to it, however, that doesn't mean it probably doesn't exist. A quick search tells me that there are over 20,000 hunger games stories on the fan fiction sight. So it wouldn't surprise me that my self-proclaimed original thought is not so original. So tell me what you think! I'd love to know if you like it or if you have any constructive criticism regarding it.

Abstract: Ever wonder what's in the other sections of the arena? This fan fic explores the horrors of an unknown section of the arena and the harm that it causes to one of our victors. Set before the lighting tree incident but after the jabberjays. From Peeta's point of view.

Chapter one: the fight and the flight

Eyes still closed, I begin to wake up. I am in that glorious halfway point between sleep and being awake. My mind is coated in a haze and I lazily stretch my body, waking up my muscles. I bask in this feeling as I lay with my eyes still closed. Everything comes back to me, as if the universe suddenly implodes into my mind. The quell, the monkeys, the blood, the water, the fog, the itching, the clock, Katniss. And that kiss. Now that was a kiss. If heaven was a memory, I would be happy to last forever in the moment of that kiss. Sure, the setting of the kiss is unfortunate, but the powers that kiss had on me was like the halfway point between sleep and waking up, while at the same time your heart is beating like you're running a marathon- blissful, yet a thrill.

Before getting up, I allow my mind the pleasure of reliving that kiss.

Being an expert at the way Katniss kisses, this one was different to the others. She started kissing me for what I thought was just to shut me up. But it escaladed and we got deeper into the kiss. I had been able to slowly move her backwards, until she was lying down. One of her hands was on my chest; the other was entwined in the hair at the nape of my neck, while my hands began slowly roaming her body. Gaining confidence, I had started kissing up and down her jaw line, before she became impatient, moving my lips back to hers. And then it was over.

Sorrow floods over me briefly at the thought that it will be the one and only real kiss shared between us. I think of how the kiss and the kisser are worth dying for though, washing away any self pity or doubt that thought implied.

I can tell that it is still early. Probably sometime between 5 and 6 am since the sun is only just showing signs that it will be rising.

Opening my eyes, I begin to take in the sounds around me, realising that everyone else must be up. Finnick is weaving, Johanna is collecting water from a tree about 20 meters away and Beetee is fiddling with the wire. Katniss noticeably missing, until I notice her returning to the site with a basket of those nut things Mags found.

"Morning all" I say with a little too much jubilation in my voice, eyes on Katniss. She meets my gaze, noticing I am awake, and then timidly looks down blushing. I smile to myself.

"Wow Peeta, you're in a chipper mood." Johanna replies, "It's as if you're getting up for a day of leisure not the possibility that you could be dead in a couple hours!" tone thick with sarcasm as she continues wiggling the tap to collect water.

"Jo, come on. A little restraint" Finnick tells her tediously, obviously warning her to keep her comments regarding the capitals brutality to a minimum today.

"What? Just making an observation..." she says nonchalantly with a shrug then continues on with collecting water.

Katniss, who remains quiet through this whole exchange, comes over with the basket, offering me some of the nuts.

"So," she says, noticeably squirming to avoid making eye contact for longer than a second.

"Did you, ah, sleep okay?"

I smile at her attempts to make small talk.

"Yep, like a log".

I continue smiling. Unlike in the past, I am not the first to flit my eyes away. Katniss moves to sit next to me, our arms touching. We continue eating, avoiding talk of the kiss. Johanna and Finnick join us, as we share the food and water amongst us.

Beetee gets up and joins the group and all of a sudden the atmosphere has changed from one of light friendly chatter to one that is more serious. He stands in front of the group, waiting until he has all of our attention, and then takes a deep breath and signs.

"I think we all know that the next step to take is to take out Enobaria and Brutus, yes?" he looks at the four of us, taking us all in with those twitchy glances.

We all give him a nod, and let him continue with his plan. Talking to the group like a teacher would to his students, he explains the plan. The wire he has been carrying with him the whole games is going to be wrapped around the lightning tree and then ran all the way through the jungle down into the ocean. At midnight, when the tree is hit by lightning, the electric current will run from the tree, down the wire to the ocean. The beach will act as a conductor, as it will be damp from the 10 pm tidal wave. Anything in its path will be electrocuted. That means that if Brutus and Enobaria are anywhere near the beach, they will be killed instantly. If not, all sources of food from the ocean will be killed, taking out the arenas main food supply. Everyone agrees to the plan, even though it is obvious that the only one that fully understands it is Beetee.

"So," Beetee says with a sigh.

"It is probably best that we go and inspect the lightning tree so I can make the needed adjustments to my calculations". This signalling the end of the conversation, we all get up and begin packing up camp. We pack the necessities first, the tap, the ointment Haymitch sent after the fog, our weapons. We begin walking towards the twelve to one section of the arena, as Beetee recommended.

We are walking on the beach in front of the jabberjays section, when out of nowhere, a spear flies our way, landing in the sand only 5 meters in front of us. Enobaria and Brutus come barrelling out of the monkey mutation jungle, armed to the nines with weapons. Enobaria makes another attempt with a spear, and this time is more successful. We all make to duck; however, Finnick made a block in front of Katniss and me. The spear slices the side of his left shoulder, and he narrowly misses being impaled by it. He cries out in pain, dropping his trident. Beetee goes to help him, putting pressure on the wound.

"Beetee, its nothing," Finnick says, waving him off and gets up and collects his trident. Katniss begins to hesitantly fire arrows towards the pair, clearly unsure whether to leave or move towards Enobaria and Brutus to further attack. Johanna and I get ready to fight. Finnick gets back on his feet with Beetee to his left.

"Finnick, you are losing too much blood." Beetee says while continuing to hold pressure to the wound. His hands now covered in Finnicks blood.

"If our lightning tree plan is to work, we are all going to have to be a part of it. We have to retreat!" Beetee gets up and makes an attempt to pull Finnick along with him. Katniss has continued firing, while Johanna and I persist to dodge Enobaria and Brutus' assault. They have gotten closer to us and Johanna looks ready to run towards them.

"I could take these two in my sleep," Johanna mumbles, but is cut off by a cry of anguish from Finnick. Beetee continues to apply pressure to his arm. Looking at Finnick, I see that Beetee is right.

"Yeah, let's move! They are get too close for comfort," I say, getting up and helping Beetee move Finnick. Holding him under his uninjured shoulder, I half support half drag him as we make our way across the beach, in the opposite direction of Enobaria and Brutus. I look behind and my eyes bludge as I see that Katniss has remained.

"Katniss, go! Move Katniss, move," I say, frantically waving at her to follow. She lowers her bow and sprints behind us. The others follow. We continue running across the beach, past our previous camp site. Heavy breathing behind me indicates that the others are still there, but just as exhausted as I am.

"We are losing them," I hear Beetee shout, "Seek cover in the jungle!"

I lead the group up the beach and into the foliage of the jungle, until we are deep enough that the beach is no longer in our sights. Gasping for air, I drop Finnick, and collapse on the ground next to him. I guess I still have not fully recovered from when I hit the force field. Johanna is leaning against a tree, catching her breath and Katniss does the same. Beetee sits on the floor on Finnicks other side and starts attending to his wound.

"Where,"

Breath.

"Are,"

Breath.

"We?"

Finnick asks, struggling for breathe.

"Oh crap!" Johanna blurts out, moving away from the tree.

"Where the hell are we? What section of the arena are we in?" looking around her in alarm. This is not good. We all look at one another in fear of which section of the arena we could have stumbled into while in flight mode.

"Do you still have the map Peeta?" Katniss ask as she sits up, moving closer to me in the process. I taking check of my resources attached to my belt.

"No, I must have left it at the site or dropped it as we were running. I'll make another one." I get up and grab a large leaf. With my knife, I begin making another map while the others gather around me.

"That's where we got attacked; on the Jabber Jay beach" Johanna says while pointing to the map while I write that down.

"We passed where we slept last night, and that was between sections four to five and five to six" Finnick adds.

"So, we know that we are not in the Jabber Jay jungle" I say while crossing that out on the map,

"Or section five to six" again crossing it out.

"So that must mean that we are"

"This is the beast section" Katniss cuts in, before I complete my sentence, fear laced through her voice. Looking up to the sky she continues

"It is nearly six am. We have to get out of here. Once it hits six am, the invisible wall traps us in here like it did in the Jabber Jay section" glancing at Finnick as she says this.

Johanna gets up and starts moving towards the beach.

"Let's get out of here, before we have time to find out the thing that accompanies the sounds we heard coming from here!" calling out behind her as she runs.

Katniss and I share a glance before I get up, grab her hand and tow her along with me, trying to save her from the unknown horrors the beast entails. Finnick and Beetee follow running in the direction of the beach. We are ducking and weaving through the trees and branches, hoping that we make it out in time.

The beach comes into view, and so has Johanna. We all come to a skidding stop at the scene before us. Johanna, reaching out in front of, hand held as if pressed up against something. We are too late. The wall is already up.

"Oh shit. This is not good." She says, lacking her usual verve.

No. It definitely is not.


	2. Chapter 2: Judging by appearance

**Chapter two: judging by appearances**

The five of us trade glances as we slowly take in what could possibly happen. We all wear similar expressions of fear and anxiety. Beetee is first to speak. "We know from yesterday that there is no way to penetrate the invisible walls that enclose us. All that is left to do is wait out the hour and pray that the beasts bark is worse than its bite."

No one responds but it is clear that we all agree with him as we all slump to the ground and wait. While this occurs, the light around them changes. It is suddenly brighter. Finnick starts to stand pointing at the foliage around them "Look, the plants," drawing everyone's eyes to the scene in front of them. Inching closer he continues "they're changing."

And he is right; the plants around them are having an immediate reaction to the brighter sun rays. Everyone is up on their feet now, trying to get a closer look at the changes that are happening; flowers opening up, and leaves becoming greener. "They've all come to life," Katniss states, pointing to a green exotic looking palm, moving as if it is inhaling and exhaling.

In a preoccupied voice, Beetee says "The plants photosynthesis processes must only be activated when in contact with the 6 am rays..." You can see his mind analysing and absorbing information from the new environment. Continuing he says "they must have genetically modified the plants so that the light at this time of the day causes them to bloom".

Johanna dead pans him, then rolls her eyes, turning back to the scene in front of them.

Colours were erupting around them. Flowers in the softest shades of purple, blue and pink were blooming from vines and branches. Berries and other fruits, in shades of succulent fuchsia and delicious indigo were revealing themselves from within opening leaves. Smells so sweet were creeping into my nose. Plants I had never seen before in my life were slowly dropping from trees.

Finnick was looking at a plant that looks like a pitcher or a goblet of some sort, sitting low beneath the foliage. The pitcher its self was a vibrant green, its rim was a hot pink colour and almost thirty centimetres in diameter. From where I was standing, I could see that inside the pitcher of the plant, there looked to be orange, nectar- like substance that definitely looked enticing.

Over near Katniss and Johanna, there were upside-down trumpet flowers, drooping downwards from a vine. Now these flowers, I had seen somewhere. The way they are dangling and their colour seems so familiar, yet I know they aren't anything like the dull flowers I've from district 12.

It suddenly hits me where I had seen these plants before. Not in the training centre. Not at district 12 or any other district Katniss and I visited on the victory tour. On the video of the previous Quarter Quell.

"Stop! Everyone, Stop!" there was enough alarm in my voice to halt them in their tracks, pausing where they were. I took a deep breath to explain, "This environment seems really similar to what I watched in the 50th Hunger Games. The games Haymitch won." I could see the realisation on Katniss' face and she took a step back towards the invisible wall.

"I remember those games" Beetee replies, "I was a mentor." Johanna and Finnick suddenly look more cautious of their surroundings, taking a step back. "What happened?" Finnick asks him.

"The arena was the most breathtaking place anyone could imagine; Green meadows, deep blue skies with fluffy, billowing white clouds. It was beautiful. But everything in the arena was poisonous; the food, the water in the streams, and even the scent of flowers if you smelled them too closely. Tributes were fooled by its beauty at first. They learnt the hard way just how dangerous the arena was." We all stood, letting his words sink in.

"It is like we have been transported 25 years in the past" Katniss comments, "The colours are too bright. The flowers are too beautiful. Everything we see probably has the ability to kill us" she says, looking around accusingly to the exquisiteness around them.

"Great," Johanna utters, "So not only are we facing the 'thing that goes roar in the day', but everything around us has the potential to knock us off our blocks," making her way back to the wall. "Do you know what I find interesting?" she continues, "The fact that neither Finnick nor I had a clue what you were talking about back there." Beetee and Finnick give her an uneasy glance. "I don't know about you all," she says while placing her index finger on her temple and the other hand on her chin, obviously for dramatic effect, "but I do not even remember it ever being taught in history classes." She pauses for effect, then says sarcastically, "Haymitch must have done something awfully bad for the capitol not to mention it" ending her innocent facade.

Once again, I am in awe. Johanna comes out with a courage, yet dangerous statement that would prove harmful if she makes it out of the arena alive. No doubt the cameras are no longer upon us; heaven forbid they draw Panems attention to Haymitch's actions in the previous Quell. It would look like a sign of rebellion.

"We should all just sit and stay alert," says Finnick pointedly, "if the beast does show, and no doubt it will, we'll have to be ready and armed." We all stand, backs against the invisible wall, waiting for signs that the hour is up. Listening for the subtle changes in the sounds we hear, movements in the trees. The vegetation continues to thrive, slightly moving as if alive. The slightest movement from the trees sends us sky high from our jitters. The anticipation of the beast is almost worse than the actual horrors of the thing. Not knowing what it looks like, how big it is, what dangers it could bring us, is sending the whole group into a anxious state.

Breathe in. Tick. Breathe out. Tock.

Beetee keeps them up to date with the time, pointing out the changes in the sky. "15 minutes to go. We're nearly there." We all give a nervous sigh. By this stage, Katniss is holding my hand and I give it a little squeeze. We look at each other, holding the stare for longer than socially accepted. Her eyes flick quickly down to my lips then back up to my eyes, noticing I was still looking. The gaze is broken, as she looks down at her feet, small smile on her lips, and blush on her cheeks. I give a soft laugh, and kiss her on the temple, then look back at her face.

It has changed. The smile is gone and the blush drained from her cheeks. Her face has dropped and now expresses pure fear. I quickly look around, for a sign what could be causing her distress. The others notice and begin frantically searching the jungle. I see where Katniss' line of vision is directed, far off into the jungle, but see nothing.

Tick. Breathe in. Tock-

Something comes darting out of the forest, so fast that I my eyes don't have time to adjust to its movements. It lands close to Johanna, but she quickly springs out of its path, "RUN!" she yells, and the others follow.

Breathe out.

I am frozen in my tracks, mesmerised by the beast four or five meters in front of me.

Tick. Breathe in.

From first glance, it seems to be some kind of lizard. From its head to the tip of its tale it is about 5 metres long and at least a metre wide metallic scaled body. Along the back of the beast, it is covered in thousands of deep green, vicious spikes, roughly thirty centimetres long. It has a thick flat head in the shape of a clubs of spade with slitted bright yellow eyes, the size of my fist. Its tale is nearly the same shape and size as the head, differentiated by a thorny angular looking violet flower, similar to the ones they observed blooming at the beginning of the hour. With its bright yellow eyes focussed on my blue ones, we continue our standoff.

Tock. Breathe out.

It starts making a deep, walloping, roaring noise, the sound we heard the other day on the beach, the sound resonating from within its chest. Each time it makes the noise, glands around the creatures throat expand then deflate like a balloon. Eyes still on mine, the beast stands on its hind legs, balancing back on its thick tale. Throwing its head back, a low screech erupts from its razor toothed mouth.

I feel a tug at my side, bringing me out of my state of bewilderment. Katniss! I look and see she is still with me, rather than fleeing like the others. Her eyes move between the creature and me as she urgently pleas, "Peeta! Come on, we have got to move!"

Suddenly the beast returns to all fours, curving its tale over its back so the flower on the tip of it is pointed in our direction. Before it has time to spring towards I grab her hand and turn to run. Finally, my brain send signals to my legs again, telling me to sprint as fast as I can, get her out of here. We follow the path the others made, seeing that they have at least a 10 metre head start.

Behind me, the beast cries out, almost in aguish, crashing through the jungle as it hunts its prey.


	3. Chapter 3: Beauty and the Beast

_Authors note at the end_

**Chapter three: Beauty and the Beast.**

We run weapons in hand, as far away from the beast as we possibly can. Johanna is in the lead, wielding her axe to make a path through the leaves, followed by Finnick. Despite his injured arm, Finnick is helping Beetee avoid tripping over the roots and vines that are on the jungle floor, holding Beetee with his good arm. Katniss and I have caught up to the group, despite our late start. The jungle vegetation is quite thick, making it harder to flee from the beast. We are crashing through the trees, breaking branches, bringing down vines, in a desperate attempt to get away.

_Fifteen minute,_ I think, _we just have to last fifteen minute, _repeating it like a mantra.

My heart pounds in my rib cage, feet slipping, unable to properly grip on the damp jungle floor. The gargling noises behind me indicate the lizard is getting closer and closer to us. It is smashing through the trees, not even attempting to weave through them, opting rather to move straight into them.

"Keep running!" Johanna pants from the front of the pack. My hand, which is holding Katniss', has quickly became slick from sweat as I pull her along with me. The Beast scuttles behind us. Tale swinging from side to side, clobbering trees as it goes. Its yellow eyes on us, focused on its prey. Its movements are inhibited by its long, lethal spikes.

By now, the lizard is about fifteen meters behind us, spluttering and walloping as the jungle floor begins to incline. A Memory flashes in front of my mind. My father and my eight year old self singing a nursery rhyme while baking gingerbread men. 'Run, run as fast as you can,' we would chant as we rolled the dough.

A loud groan behind me brings my mind back to the present.

"It's gaining on us!" Katniss says, turning her head back from behind us. She reaches behind her for an arrow and loads her bow, ready for an attack. We share a quick glance before I return my attention to my feet, focusing so my prosthetic foot does not get caught in anything. Bow loaded, she swiftly turns, and shoots at it, then continues to run without seeing if it made contact. The heavy footsteps continue however, so any hit she may have got could not have done any major damage.

Another memory pops into my mind. I am in my second year of High School and it is the school athletics' day. I am running. Wind in my hair as I try to get to the finish line before my competitors. My legs are burning. I am nearly in so much pain that I cannot bear it. But then there is relief when I stop, an increase in endorphins, as I revel in my achievement.

Something tells me stopping will not lead to anything good in this situation. My real leg burns from the physical activity. My lungs ache for more oxygen, as my windpipe struggles to take in enough air for the increased demand. The humidity was enough to get me sweating. Now it drips off of my skin as I run for my life.

_Fifteen minutes have got to be nearly finished, _I think.

I notice in my peripheral vision while running, that the plants around us have once again changed. Quickly looking up from my moving feet, I see that the picturesque jungle with its soft flowers, enticing nectars and carelessly hung vines has become even more lifelike. Before, it merely looked like they were breathing, slowly inhaling then exhaling. Now, the plants slither and move in jittery patterns, enclosing around us.

"The plants," I cry to the group, in between pants,

"They are coming towards us!"

The others look around, noticing the change. Finnick and Beetee slightly slow their pace, looking cautiously at the evolving environment.

"Peachy!" Johanna shouts, eye roll allude to in the tone of her voice.

"Keep moving," she barks out over her shoulder, snapping Finnick from his state as Katniss and I rush behind them. This slight pause has given the Beast a chance to catch up. Looking back, I can see the delight in its golden eyes as it thinks we have given up.

"Quick," Katniss commands.

"We have to keep going!" eyes bulging as she looks in the direction of the Beast, pushing me to make me move faster. She loads her bow again and attempts another shot while running from the animal.

The plants evolution continued. All at once, the jungle begins to attack us as we try to evade the monster behind us. Plants begin to snap shut and shoot thorns and tar at us. An unfriendly looking plant with thorns snaps shut. Katniss leaps over it just in time to narrowly miss having her foot trapped in its mouth. She ducks under a low hanging branch as pulling me with her. We continue moving up the hill. I copy Katniss and Finnicks footing, trying with all my might to avoid falling over.

Vines as thick as my neck begin crawl along the jungle floor, creating another obstacle to trip over. One flies out of the trees, aiming for Finnicks wrist. He quickly moves his body out of it path, just far enough so that he and Beetee are out of its reach. Out of nowhere, Finnick produces a knife and slashes it before it gets closer. A black tar like substance oozes out of the limp vine. Katniss and I avoid it as we run behind the others. No doubt it is poisonous like everything else in this jungle.

The noises behind us are getting louder and louder. Its feet are beating the ground, sending vibrations through the jungle, and up my body. My breathing is loud, imitating the rhythm of the beasts' movement. A voice in the back of my head reminds me that the arena is coming to an end. I ignore it and focus on avoiding the horrors the beast and the jungle are presenting to us.

We are halfway up the hill. About a meter in front of Katniss and me, Finnick struggles with Beetee. Beetee gives a quick head check behind us, then says

"It's gaining on us," Beetee says while looking past Katniss and I. The spool of wire is still held tight in his hand, despite his stumbling. I look behind us and see that he is right.

Before I have a chance to turn my head back, I am slamming into something. The next thing I know, my vision is a blur as I fall to the ground, face first. I feel and hear a loud crunching noise and next thing I know; I feel a warm gush of blood stream out my nose.

I roll on my back and try to regain my bearings as the blood from my nose continues to flow, looking around to determine what just happened.

Regaining sight, I see that Beetee had fell and dragged Finnick to the ground with him, causing Katniss and I to trip over them. Katniss and Finnick scramble to their feet, trying pulling Beetee and I up. Katniss, eyes wide, sees my face.

"Peeta! Your nose," she says anxiously.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" I rebuff, brushing away her hands as she angle my face for closer inspection.

"I think we have bigger problems," referring to the spiky lizard that will most likely be the cause of our death.

"Get up, get up, get up!" I hear Johanna snarling in front of us, met with another pair of hands pulling on me to get up. There is now only five metres remain between the monster and us. I regain my feet but by now the Beast could easily lung at us. With nowhere else to move, we are trapped.

The Beast has stopped and is looking at us, taking us in, eyeing each of us one by one. Its movements have become slow as if it is calculating the most efficient way to cause each of us the most harm possible.

"What the hell do we do?" Johanna says, her axe at the ready.

"No point running anymore," Finnick replies, still panting.

"Any sudden movement is going to set it off," he continues, positioning himself to strike, trident in hand. The Beast begins its deep wallop, puffing out its balloon like glands.

"There is not much longer until the end of the hour," Beetee says, looking up at the sky.

"Once the hour is up, this section of the arena will return to its normal state like the others did".

He pauses with a side glance at each of us, but still cautiously eyeing off the lizard.

"The Beast will go. We have to either out last it or kill it" he concludes, the wire in one hand, knife held tight in the other, chest moving rapidly.

He is right. The Beast will leave this section just like the Jabber Jays and the monkey mutts. I readjust my grip on my knife, watching the Beast for sudden movements. Next to me, Katniss slowly draws back her bow. That catches the attention of the animal and its eyes zone in on her.

"Katniss..." I say, warning her to be careful. The pain caused by my nose forgotten.

Their eyes are locked on the others, and they are frozen in a standoff.

"I say we kill it," she says, eyes unmoving, fingers twitching for release.

"Katniss, don't do anything rash," Beetee adds

"We have to find its weakness," she says, eyes remaining on the Beast.

The Beast begins its deep wallop, puffing out its glands, interrupting our conversation. It stands on its hind legs, balancing on its tale, throwing its head back to release a load, ear splitting roar.

Without warning, Katniss' arrow has left her bow and shoots through the air towards the animals' chest. It moves just as the arrow is about to come in contact with it, stretching, yellow eyes blazing with furry.

"Woah! What the hell Katniss?" Joanna says.

"Do you have a freaking death wish?"

The mutt begins its deep wallop, puffing out its glands and standing on its hind legs, balancing on its tale.

"Calm down, I was just testing something out!"

"Maybe now is not the right time for you to test whether the thing is willing to play 'fetch the arrow'" Joanna spits back, switching between giving Katniss the death stare and keeping the animal where she can see it.

While this is happening, Beetee, Finnick and I begin to move back. The mutt has obviously become arrogant. It realises that he has got his pray right where he wants it. Its eyes glow with satisfaction. I reach for Katniss and pull her behind me. Finnick does the same to Joanna.

"Maybe we should consider fighting the Beast instead of one another," Beetee states, continuing to inch backwards.

"I agree. And that is why I shot the arrow- we have to try and shoot at its underside" Katniss says, reloading her bow. As she says this, the beast again throws its head back, revealing its smooth underside. There are no spikes there. Katniss has probably come to the conclusion that this is a weak spot.

"How do you-"

"Just trust me okay!" Katniss says, cutting Joanna off before she can finish her sentence.

"Okay," Finnick says,

"Let's do this," readjusting his trident, ready for attack.

Before the Beast has a chance to even blink, all five of us attack, catching it off guard. We form a semi circle around it, allowing us to get it at all angles. The Beast is on all fours, swinging its spiked flower resembling tail around, aiming to make contact with any and all of us. The air is filled with the sounds of stretching and metal clanging. Joanna is at the front of the Beast, and is narrowly missing having an arm torn off by its vicious looking teeth. Finnick is jabbing the thing with his trident and Katniss is shooting continuous fire at the Beast, aiming for any skin close to its underside. Beetee and I focus on trying to penetrate the lizard's side. I am having no such luck though. Its spikes are acting as a buffer and each time I make contact with the skin, it is too thick to get through.

Quickly looking down, I see the blood from my nose has dried and that vines have begun to snake their way between my legs, making it harder and harder to move. In between swiping the Beast, I cut the vine to prevent it from tripping me up. They move very fast though and it is not long until I have to stop my attack on the lizard to untangle my already unstable legs from the vines.

Suddenly I hear a loud, groan like scream.

"I got the freaking things eye!" Joanna exclaims, indicating the reason for the Beast cry.

I look over and see that her axe is lodged deed in the animals' eye socket.

Time speeds up as the Beast begins to lash out. It begins convulsing and swinging its tail out randomly. I duck as the flower tail moves towards me. Before the animals screeches were deep and strong. Now they come out like a long whine, high pitched and gargling. It starts swiping at its face, attempting to remove the obstruction from its face. Everyone moves out of its way, out of reach of the deadly spikes. Katniss continues fire.

It gives a grunt and focuses its one yellow eye on the group of us. If I thought there was anger in its eyes before, it was nothing compared to the rage that now currently fills its one remaining eye. A deep rumbling starts out in its chest then exits its jaws in a loud, ear splitting, earth shaking growl.

Everything begins to happen so fast.

The Beast continues its growl and stands on its hind legs.

"NOW!" Katniss shrieks.

Simultaneously, Katniss releases her arrow as Finnicks trident goes sailing towards the Beasts chest.

A horrible suction noise is heard as the arrow and the trident breaks through the Beasts skin. For once, the animal is silent. Its jaw snaps shut, mid growl, to inspect the arrow and the trident that have been imbedded into its chest. Its head snaps back up at Katniss, disbelief in its eye, and it begins to wail again, glands puffing at the side of its throat.

Events begin to lap over one another as it starts lashing out. The shrieking continues as it starts to swing its tail. It loses its balance and crashes into the closest tree.

I turn to see Joanna, just as the Beasts spiked tail slashes her mid section.

"AAARRRRRGGH!" She cries, folding in on herself to clutch her stomach.

The Beasts has picked its self back up. It is now stumbling towards us. Before its gets closer, Katniss reaches behind her for an arrow. She loads it and then sends it straight into its skull. This has put a stop to the Beasts thrashing. It is now panting, loudly taking its last breath. It begins to sway slightly and almost floats instead of crashing to the jungle floor. It lands with a thud on its underside, lodging the trident and arrow into it deeper. The tail swinging after it, flopping to rest on its back, barb from the tip of its tail shoots off of the beautiful flowered tip, into unseen jungle in my peripheral.

My ears are filled with the pounding noise of my heart beat and my breathing.

Had I been breathing that deeply the whole time?

"Shit that hurt!"

I tear my gaze away from the conquered Beast to Joanna who is slumped on a tree. Beetee and Finnick on either side of her are both are giving her their full attention as she shouts profanities. I take a step towards her, leaving Katniss behind me.

"Crap! You okay Jo?" I say, noticing the blood slowly oozing out from the wound.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just stings a little-"

"Peeta..." I hear quietly uttered behind me, causing me to swiftly turn around.

I turn, just in time to see her.

One hand extended towards me, the other clutching her barbed left shoulder, eyes filled with pain as she slowly sinks first to her knees, then slumping to her right side, resting on the jungle floor.

_Authors note:_

_Hi all! Just wanted to say thank you to all those people who have taken the time out to write a review for this story or even add it to their alerts. I really get chuffed when I see that someone has read it or taken time out of their day to comment on it. I really appreciate the constructive criticism and like to know what people think about the story._

I've already planned out where I would like this story to end and Im pretty excited to write it and see what people think

Many thanks x


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